If life is supposed to begin at 40, a World Cup life should end in the fifth decade. History will be made by two who could soon be part of it. The 23rd World Cup features a pair born before the 13th edition. For the first time in the history of the competition, there is a derby of the forty-somethings as Portugal meet Croatia.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric, each born in 1985, both among the seven players with the most World Cup appearances ever, serial Champions League winners together, have a reunion where one faces a finish. In Modric’s case, it will be definitive. “This is his last World Cup, and he is doing his best to say ‘goodbye’ to the tournament,” said Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic.
As for Ronaldo, is it beyond the realms of possibility that he sets his sights on a World Cup that Portugal will co-host in 2030? The record scorer in the history of international football seemed to have played his last World Cup game four years ago. Ronaldo’s bid to defy the ageing process has taken him to the United States and, now, Canada, despite the evidence it should not.
Portugal’s stumbles and their struggles to score with Ronaldo spearheading their attack are why they were diverted to Toronto, to a meeting between runners-up in their respective pools. For Croatia, it was an achievement for a side who can be slow starters to tournaments but then battle to survive in them: fourth in Group L after one game, third after two, they ended up second.
For Modric, too, it was a false start. He conceded a penalty in the 4-2 defeat to England and was taken off within an hour. Time, it seemed, had caught up with a player who had seemed timeless. Yet by the end of the stage, Modric was going strong: it was his 83rd-minute corner that Nikola Vlasic headed in to earn victory against Ghana.
All of which could provide a contrast between captains. Ronaldo was not removed in Portugal’s opening draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo. His group ended with another ineffectual display in the stalemate with Colombia. In between, however, he became the first player to score in six World Cups with a brilliantly-taken brace against Uzbekistan.
It took him to 145 international goals; but none of those 145 have come in a knockout match of a World Cup. Ronaldo yelled “I’m back” after piercing the Uzbekistan defence, but a man who forever delights in proving people wrong has a greater score to settle. His CV contains few gaps, but the missing parts tend to relate to the World Cup.
So a goal in Toronto would have an added meaning to him; so, too, if it helps rectify Portugal’s World Cup record in the last two decades. Which, since they were semi-finalists in Ronaldo’s first tournament in 2006, is largely one of underachievement. When Portugal and Croatia both exited the 2014 World Cup in the group stage, the same could be said for Modric. What has followed since has been extraordinary: a country whose population is under four million were finalists in 2018 and finished third in 2022.
Modric is a World Cup great. Ronaldo is not, though he is one of only 17 players with at least 10 World Cup goals. Modric is a Golden Ball winner, voted the best player in the 2018 tournament and the third finest in 2022.
In his golden year of 2018, the Croatian also won the Ballon d’Or, becoming a successor of Ronaldo’s, and the Fifa best player award. Ronaldo was both the runner-up and one of those who voted for Modric. He had done as well in 2016 and 2017. And if those votes in part reflected an attempt to prevent Lionel Messi from winning, Ronaldo and Modric were a partnership that benefited each other. Perhaps not directly – the midfielder only actually assisted 14 of the forward’s goals – but he could play the pass before the final pass. He controlled games, Ronaldo decided them.
They were together for six years at the Bernabeu and Real won four Champions Leagues. Ronaldo scored three goals in the finals. He became Real’s record scorer, with 450 goals; arguably his decision to leave, at 33, for Juventus, then Manchester United and, eventually, Al-Nassr, was a mistake that contributed to a tailing off in his career, no matter how many goals he scored. Modric stayed at the Bernabeu for a further seven years, eventually leaving a couple of months before his 40th birthday, with a further two Champions League titles.
Longevity is a shared trait. Only four men have made 200 appearances in senior international football. If this World Cup promised to bring a meeting between two of them, Ronaldo and Messi in the quarter-final, Portugal’s different route instead means a different match-up of the double centurions now.
They have played 25 and 22 World Cup games respectively, but none against each other. They have shared a pitch for 232 matches: 222 for Real, 10 when in opposition. The encouraging statistic for Portugal is that Modric has never finished on the winning side against Ronaldo. If that remains the case, Croatia’s most iconic player will bow out of the World Cup for good. But if it does not, Ronaldo’s two-decade bid to conquer this competition could be over for ever.
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